Samsung hoping to bring biometric security to lower-end devices

The critical response to the Galaxy S5's fingerprint-scanning features may have been muted, but Samsung seems undeterred in its efforts to spread biometric security capabilities across its mobile device lineup. According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung SVP Rhee In-jong told investors and analysts in Hong Kong that the company will expand its use of biometric sensors, making them available even to lower-cost handsets.

Rhee, who is in charge of development for Samsung's Knox security product, added "one of things that everybody is looking at is iris detection." Iris recognition was a feature widely rumored to be in the works in the run up to the Galax S5 announcement, however so far no mainstream smartphone has shipped an implementation of this kind of biometric sensor.

Rhee revealed that of the 87 million devices in the wild with Knox embedded, some 1.8 million are actively using the feature. The exec said he hoped for a "trickle down" effect to boost Knox demand as more bodies certified the software.